Category Archives: Australian police and policing

Australia spends billions ‘failing to police’ cannabis that earns black market $25bn a year, Greens say

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David Shoebridge says legalising the drug would bring in $28bn in tax revenue in first decade

Australia’s cannabis industry could be earning the black market $25bn a year and, rather than policing it, we could be gaining revenue from it by legalising it, Greens senator David Shoebridge has said.

“Law enforcement is spending billions of public dollars failing to police cannabis, and the opportunity here is to turn that all on its head by legalising it,” he said.

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University lecturer ‘deeply sorry’ for killing wife after argument, Melbourne court hears

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Adam Brown has pleaded guilty to murdering Chen Cheng at their home in April 2022

A university lecturer is “deeply sorry” for stabbing his wife to death after an argument about kindergarten plans escalated into the couple arming themselves with knives, a Melbourne court has heard.

Adam Brown, 40, a former Deakin University digital media lecturer who also taught gender studies and women’s history, last year pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife of five years, Chen Cheng.

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Queensland passes controversial youth crime laws after heated human rights debate

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New laws include the overriding of the Human Rights Act to allow children to be charged for breaching bail

The Queensland government’s controversial youth crime laws have been passed in parliament despite strong opposition by human rights advocates and experts who warn they are ineffective and will result in more children incarcerated.

The laws include overriding the state’s Human Rights Act to make breach of bail an offence for children. They will also expand an electronic monitoring trial for children as young as 15 and provide additional funding of $9m to assist victims of crime.

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Brisbane watch house officer tells inquest she did not check if Aunty Sherry Tilberoo was breathing

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Debra Haigh tells hearing she now understands she should have stood in front of cell for longer and used a torch to look for movement

A Brisbane watch house officer who was suspended after the death of First Nations woman Shiralee Tilberoo has admitted during an inquest that she did not check whether she was breathing or shine a torch into the darkened cell on nine occasions.

The Birri Gubba woman – also known as Aunty Sherry – died of a brain aneurysm in Brisbane City watch house in the early hours of the morning on 10 September 2020.

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Racism in NT police ‘systemic’, senior Indigenous public servant tells Kumanjayi Walker inquest

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NT Australian of the Year Leanne Liddle describes consultations to develop an Aboriginal justice agreement as ‘devastating’

A senior Indigenous public servant in the Northern Territory government has told an inquest that she had seen “so many examples of systemic racism in the NT police force” that negotiating a justice agreement for the territory was “one of the most depressing and saddest experiences” of her life.

Leanne Liddle, an Arrernte woman and director of the Aboriginal justice unit in the NT attorney general’s department, developed the Aboriginal justice agreement (AJA) after extensive consultation in Aboriginal communities.

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NT police officer denies Kumanjayi Walker text was ‘angry racist message’ to ‘protect boy in blue’

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Inquest into death of Aboriginal man hears text describing Walker as ‘shit cunt’ was forwarded to Zachary Rolfe

A Northern Territory sergeant who described the Aboriginal victim of a police shooting as a “shit cunt” in a text message in which he also told a colleague how to “answer his critics” in relation to the shooting has denied it was an “angry racist message designed to protect a boy in blue”.

Sergeant Ian Nankivell gave evidence on Thursday at an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker, who was shot dead by Constable Zachary Rolfe at the remote community of Yuendumu in 2019. Rolfe was cleared of criminal charges including murder in relation to the shooting.

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Victoria police chief warns officers they’re not above the law after rise in disciplinary incidents

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Shane Patton reveals 17 officers were dismissed in 2022, and says it is the ‘type of offending’ that is concerning

Victoria’s police chief commissioner, Shane Patton, has publicly warned his force it is not above the law after a jump in disciplinary hearings last year, with officers accused of family violence, sexual harassment and unjustified use of police information.

Patton on Thursday revealed 17 police officers had been dismissed in 2022, while a further 31 resigned while their cases were being heard, when he says they saw the “writing on the wall”.

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Daughter of Sydney developer released on bail after being charged with fraud offences

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Court hears allegations against Ashlyn Nassif, 27, relate to Skyview development in Castle Hill

Ashlyn Nassif, the daughter of Jean Nassif, a Sydney property developer has been released on bail after she was arrested by the New South Wales organised crime squad as part of a major fraud investigation into a controversial multimillion development in the city’s north-west.

Nassif, 27, appeared in the Downing Centre local court on Wednesday to apply for bail after spending the night in prison after a series of raids across Sydney.

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Deputy commissioner highly critical of botched arrest of Kumanjayi Walker, inquest hears

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Murray Smalpage tells coroner he is ‘struggling to find a reason’ for deviation from arrest plan on day Warlpiri teen was killed by Zachary Rolfe

The Northern Territory police’s second-highest serving officer has told an inquest he is “struggling to find a reason why” there was such a deviation from the “detailed” plan to arrest Warlpiri teenager Kumanjayi Walker on the day he was shot and killed by Constable Zachary Rolfe.

Walker, 19, was shot dead by Rolfe during a botched arrest in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in 2019. Rolfe was cleared of all criminal charges in relation to the shooting.

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NSW police says Lidia Thorpe will not be charged for blocking its Mardi Gras float

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Social media video shows senator laying in front of police float, temporarily blocking Oxford Street parade

New South Wales police has confirmed it will not charge Senator Lidia Thorpe for temporarily blocking the Sydney Mardi Gras parade on Saturday night.

Thorpe lay down in front of the NSW police float on Oxford Street, momentarily stopping the parade, to boos from the crowd.

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Powerpoint and politics: inside Queensland Labor’s shock decision to lock up children for breaching bail

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Government claims a bipartisan approach to respond to community concerns, but experts warn of increased pressure on the buckling youth detention system

At a community crime forum in Toowoomba last week, the Queensland police minister, Mark Ryan, announced the government’s new youth bail plan – an “intensive supervision” program involving police doing home checks and patrols.

It didn’t go down well. Ryan was hounded by attendees and mocked for factual comments that most people on bail do not reoffend.

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Zachary Rolfe leaves Australia after saying NT police were planning to sack him

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Rolfe’s father says he expects his son to return and give evidence at Kumanjayi Walker inquest if his legal action to avoid doing so fails

The Northern Territory police officer cleared of murdering Kumanjayi Walker has left Australia, only days after he says he was issued another disciplinary notice and informed by command that they planned to sack him from the force because of his mental health.

Zachary Rolfe said in a 2,500-word statement published on Facebook on Thursday night that he was a “good cop” who “loved the job”, but that he had been “painted” as racist and violent.

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‘Changing the justice system’: Victorian Liberal Brad Battin goes from tough on crime to keeping people out of jail

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Exclusive: former police officer says those who commit low-level crimes should not be in prisons

After years of tough-on-crime policies being pushed by the Victorian Coalition, Liberal MP Brad Battin is pursuing a different goal: using money currently spent locking people up to keep them out of prison.

After his appointment as the opposition’s criminal justice reform spokesperson, Battin – who worked in prisons and later became a police officer before entering politics – said it was possible to prioritise community safety while also finding alternative punishments for people who should not be in jail.

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‘Recipe for disaster’: Queensland bail law that overrides children’s human rights won’t work, experts say

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Legal groups also criticise the push to override the state’s Human Rights Act to create the offence

Experts say there is zero evidence to support Annastacia Palaszczuk’s controversial decision to pursue criminal charges against Queensland children who breach bail.

Human rights organisations have also delivered scathing criticisms of the government’s bid to override the state’s Human Rights Act to legislate the offence for children, warning that it likely won’t reduce offending.

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Two people injured and one charged after alleged shooting in Toowoomba

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Queensland police charge 18-year-old woman with multiple firearm-related offences ahead of community safety forum

A woman and a teenage girl have been injured and an 18-year-old charged with a string of offences after an alleged shooting in Toowoomba, ahead of a community forum at which tensions over a perceived youth crime crisis are expected to come to a head.

The Queensland police minister, Mark Ryan, the youth justice minister, Leanne Linard, and the police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, are expected to attend a community safety forum at Toowoomba’s Empire theatre on Wednesday night.

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Police seek men rescued clinging to esky off WA coast after over 300kg of cocaine found ashore

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Authorities are requesting public assistance to locate the three men who told authorities their boat capsized while fishing

Three men are being sought after police found about 365kg of cocaine off Western Australia’s south coast.

The men were found clinging to an esky in the ocean off Albany on 1 February, telling authorities their boat had capsized while they were fishing.

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‘Disgraceful and gutless’: Queensland deputy premier pilloried for attack on judiciary

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Steven Miles said a magistrate’s decision to release children locked in Townsville watch house was ‘a media stunt’

Queensland’s deputy premier, Steven Miles, has been accused of engaging in a “disgraceful” breach of the separation of powers for claiming the safety of residents was being “held to ransom by rogue courts and rogue justices”.

At a press conference on Friday, Miles said a decision by a Townsville magistrate to release several children being held on remand in the local watch house was a “media stunt”, prompting fierce pushback from civil liberties veteran Terry O’Gorman.

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Queensland magistrate grants bail to teenage girl after raising concerns over adult watch houses

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Eoin Mac Giolla Ri in a separate case last month said children could be exposed to ‘drunk, abusive, psychotic’ detainees

A Queensland magistrate who previously raised concerns about children being held in “harsh” conditions in adult watch houses has granted bail to a teenage girl after saying he was “conscious” that she may otherwise end up in one.

Mount Isa magistrate Eoin Mac Giolla Ri last week said the 15-year-old girl would probably be held for an “extended” period in a watch house if bail was refused, as all three of the state’s youth detention centres were at capacity. Bail was initially refused for the girl on Friday, and the matter adjourned until Monday, in the hope that the parties could find a solution as to her placement. She was subsequently granted bail on Monday.”

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John Barilaro’s assault charge dismissed by NSW magistrate on mental health grounds

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Former deputy premier had pleaded not guilty to assaulting a camera operator in Manly last July

A magistrate has dismissed an assault charge against former New South Wales deputy premier John Barilaro on mental health grounds.

Barilaro pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting a camera operator and damaging their property outside a Manly restaurant in July 2022.

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Dating app background and ID checks being considered in bid to fight abuse

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National roundtable mulls safety strategies as communications minister says ‘no one law is going to fix this issue’

Background checks and ID verification systems in dating apps are among the measures being considered as governments around the country grapple with how to keep people safe while they are looking for love online.

The strategies were discussed by ministers, victim-survivors, authorities and technology companies as part of national dating app roundtable talks in Sydney on Wednesday.

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In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

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